I Left My Heart With A Canadian!
by PrussianAwesomeness
Summary: Semi genderbent high school AU - Gilberta's got competition for the new guy with Katyusha, Elizabeth won't even talk to Francis, Alyssa's taking over the school and Matthew just wants to go back home. How are they going to survive school? Pairings inside
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One:

Gilberta's eyes opened at the sound of the alarm. Sighing, she turned her alarm clock off and stumbled into the washroom. Fuck, another day of school. Gilberta rolled her magnificent red eyes. Time to get ready.

Ludwig was already awake and making breakfast when Gilberta walked down the stairs. "Hello _schwester_," Ludwig greeted as Gilberta plopped down across from him. "Are you sure you should be going to school wearing that?" he asked in concern. Gilberta looked confused.

"What are you talking about?" she asked, looking down at her ripped black AC/DC shirt and her dark demin torn jeans.

"You look like you're a criminal," Ludwig informed her. Gilberta rolled her eyes. "And what did you do to your eyes? You look like you have two black eyes!" Ludwig exclaimed.

"Chill bro it's called eyeliner and eye shadow. It's a girl thing," Gilberta informed him.

"Gilberta, I don't think Vati would like you going to school wearing that," Ludwig said nervously. Gilberta scowled.

"Hey! It's Gilbert or nothing – got it?" Gilberta said testily. She rather disliked having such an ugly name. She wouldn't have minded having an actual feminine name but _no_, her vati and mutti had to name her after her great-grandfather instead of giving her a proper awesome name.

"I don't understand why you would want to be referred to with a boy name, really I don't," Ludwig said, clearly perplexed. Gilberta rolled her eyes.

"You don't understand much do you?" she teased. "You don't get anything about me _or_ about your pretty little boyfriend," she continued, laughing as Ludwig turned pink.

"Boyfriend? I don't know what you're talking about," Ludwig stammered as Gilberta laughed.

"Please. Half the school knows about you and Feliciano," Gilberta told him as Ludwig turned a darker shade of red.

"Feliciano is just an extremely aggravating boy who won't leave me alone," Ludwig said quickly. Gilberta's left eyebrow [and eyebrow piercing] rose.

"That's not what Kiku told me," she sang out. Ludwig looked astonished.

"What is Kiku doing talking to _you_?" Ludwig said in shock. Gilberta looked offended.

"What's that supposed to mean? What if me and Kiku are secretly dating?" Gilberta shot at him. "How about _that_?" Ludwig paled.

"You _are_?" he yelped. Even though Gilberta was just kidding, she was still offended Ludwig seemed to be so horrified. She always did like quiet shy boys.

"I was only kidding Luddy," Gilberta said rolling her eyes. "You need to stop being so uptight or else you'll end up exactly like Ronnie." The both of them shuddered simultaneously. Veronika Edelstein was their snobby rich cousin. She was rarely seen without her obnoxious jerk of a boyfriend Eli and together the two of them made Gilberta sick. Veronika chastised Gilberta on her choice of music and Eli always tried to get Gilberta to make out with some random girl. Just because Gilberta was rather tomboyish didn't mean she was lesbian. Far from it actually. A buzzing sound from her phone interrupted their now silent eating. "Ooh it's from Toni – I gotta go meet him and Francis at the parking lot in exactly 15 minutes," Gilberta explained as she grabbed the leftover pieces of bacon in her bare hands and ran to her car. "Have fun in grade 10, bruder!" she sang out as she ran out the door. Ludwig sighed.

"I honestly don't understand why she chooses to spend her time with boys rather than with her own gender," he muttered to himself before clearing up the table. Their Vati and Mutti were gone somewhere in another country for business work so he and his older sister were left in the house alone. It wasn't so bad though – Ludwig just had to make sure Gilberta didn't hold random parties or come home crazy drunk with an equally drunk guy in tow. And because he normally couldn't do that, he made sure to be far, far away from all the action.

"Ve… Ludwig, can I come out now?" a voice said from under the table. Ludwig sighed. Feliciano Vargas, the bane to his existence [and also his best friend] always had an annoying tendency to somehow manage to sneak into the Beilschmidt residence and crawl into bed with Ludwig. Ludwig usually managed to wake up at least an hour after Feliciano's arrival to kick him out before his Vati, Mutti or worse – _Gilberta_ could discover the Italian. Today, however, Ludwig had been having a rather nice dream and it was already time to get up [5 AM]. When he had rolled over, he was horrified to see Feliciano still lying there.

"Yes you can Feliciano – and hurry!" Ludwig looked around nervously. What if Gilberta came back because she forgot something? What if Vati and Mutti's business meeting in Germany ended early and they decided to come home to surprise him and Gilberta? Ludwig swallowed thickly. Feliciano popped up from under the table.

"Ludwig, cheer up! It's the first day of school! Grade 10 sounds like lots of fun! Well, my older sister says it's awful and full of torture but that's when she met Antonio so grade 10 can't be bad right? I hope I have a nice homeroom teacher – don't you? Hey Ludwig do you think there will be pretty girls in my class? Ve~ I like pretty girls," Feliciano rambled as Ludwig grabbed his backpack and headed outside.

"Blackie, Aster, Berlitz – _guard_," Ludwig commanded as he locked the door. The three Dobermans stood up, alert as Ludwig and his chatty friend walked away from the Beilschmidt residence. "And Feliciano, calm down! I don't know what you're saying!" Ludwig exclaimed. Feliciano blushed.

"Sorry Ludwig – I'm just so excited~" Feliciano said, running ahead of Ludwig and spinning around in circles excitedly. Ludwig himself couldn't be too worried about grade 10 – Gilberta had said grade 10 was a total bore and the only use it had for her was to lose her virginity to the cute Greek boy in her German class [why Gilberta chose to take German instead of any other language was beyond him].

Besides, he had worse things to worry about. Like, did Feliciano happen to hear what Gilberta had said about them dating? Ludwig felt something knot up in his stomach. If he did – what would his reaction be? Ludwig knew Feliciano's family was very religious and wasn't quite sure he'd be very happy about that idea – not that it was true or anything. They weren't dating. Definitely weren't dating. Ludwig didn't even have a _crush_ on Feliciano! Not that Ludwig liked guys or anything. No. Ludwig liked… well actually, Ludwig didn't quite know what he liked. But he was sure it was girls. Didn't he used to have a really, really big crush on a pretty girl who lived next door to the Beilschmidt family when he was 5?

"Come _on_ Ludwig let's go! I wanna see all of our friends again! It's been so long!" Feliciano exclaimed impatiently, already forgetting that he had spent every waking summer minute with said friends. Ludwig sighed.

"I'm coming," Ludwig muttered, kicking a pebble in frustration before joining Feliciano, fervently hoping nobody thought they were a couple or anything as they made their way to school.

Sometimes life was just not fair.

* * *

><p>"Goodbye father!" Elizabeth Eleanor Kirkland sang out as her father, a well known business man, drove away from her sight. The moment he was out of view Elizabeth's perfect smile turned into a scowl.<p>

"Careful honey or that'll be permanent," a voice said behind Elizabeth. Elizabeth rolled her eyes.

"Hello Gilbert," Elizabeth said as she pulled her pigtails out and shook her blonde hair out. "Can you hold my bag for a second?" she asked. Gilberta rolled her eyes.

"Same old, same old," Gilberta said as Elizabeth tossed her the bag and hurried into the trees nearby.

"Oh shut up – you know how much I loathe the clothes my parents make me wear," Elizabeth replied as she emerged wearing skinny jeans and a shirt not unlike the one Gilberta was wearing. Gilberta tossed the British girl her backpack and Elizabeth pulled out a makeup case to apply eyeliner.

"I still don't get why your parents want to dress you like you're still 4," Gilberta remarked as Elizabeth put on her backpack, her vivid green eyes glittering brightly, the eyeliner bringing out the colour in her eyes.

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "They're afraid that the moment they start letting me act my own age I'll start doing things like drinking and having sex," she replied. Gilberta burst out laughing.

"Pity you've already started on both, eh?" Gilberta teased, nudging Elizabeth. Elizabeth blushed a deep red.

"I didn't mean to do the second one," Elizabeth muttered, making Gilberta laugh some more.

"And with _Francis _of all people!" Gilberta exclaimed. Elizabeth glared at her.

"Don't mention his name to me – ever," Elizabeth hissed and Gilberta smirked. Francis Bonnefoy and Elizabeth had been long time enemies – their rivalry going back to their childhood. The two of them never went a few minutes without mauling each other which made it even more amusing to Gilberta how Elizabeth ended up having drunken sex with him.

"Oh come on it's so obvious what's going on between the two of you," Gilberta said loudly as Elizabeth trailed beside her.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Elizabeth said haughtily. Gilberta grinned.

"Everybody knows about the 'secret' sexual tension going on between the two of you," Gilberta said. "Even Feliciano's aware of it and the kid's the densest thing on earth!" she added as Elizabeth turned positively purple with indignation.

"There is _nothing_ going on between us!" Elizabeth exclaimed.

"Of course there isn't," Gilberta said winking.

"Can we change the subject please? I'm starting to get a migraine," Elizabeth growled.

"Ok then… so Feliciano stayed over again," Gilberta remarked casually. Elizabeth's left eyebrow rose.

"Did he now? Did Ludwig attempt to make him leave before you woke up?" Elizabeth asked. Gilberta laughed.

"Nope! I saw him push Feliciano under the table when I came downstairs – guess he didn't wake up in time," Gilberta replied. "The two of them really need to admit their feelings to each other. It's boring watching Ludwig act all shy around him – why can't Ludwig just get that he likes Feli and start dating the kid already?" Gilberta said. Elizabeth rolled her eyes.

"It's not that easy – Ludwig's a good kid – he always listens to your parents. How are your parents gonna take him dating another boy?"

"The way they took my eyebrow piercing and my purple lowlights – Vati will fume and yell for a few hours and Mutti will cry about how her little babies were growing up and getting ready to leave her forever and then the next morning they'll treat it as if nothing bad had happened," Gilberta replied casually. Elizabeth sighed.

"I wish _my_ family was like that… if I tried anything as bad as what you usually get away with I'd be murdered on the spot," Elizabeth replied. "If something threatens to ruin the perfect Kirkland name it must be eliminated. And speaking of my family – my cousin and her step-brother are coming to our school," Elizabeth added. Gilberta's pierced eyebrow rose.

"Yay? Nay?"

"Nay – Alyssa's the biggest idiot anybody could ever meet. She thinks she's the best at everything and that she's some sort of hero because she likes butting her nose in other peoples' business and 'helping' them out."

"What about the step-brother?"

"Never met him – Aunt Emily married his dad a few months ago and Auntie Em and Al decided to move from Kansas up here in Canada to join their new family."

"Name?"

"Why do you care? Are you going to make him your latest victim?"

"You make it sound like I'm Francis."

"I told you to never mention his name in front of me!"

"Oh, _sorry_. You make it sound like I'm He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named."

"Well you _do_ have a tendency to either date or bully the hell out of the boys in our grade."

"I'm not _that_ bad!"

"Of course you aren't."

"So what's the kid's name?"

Elizabeth paused, frowning. "I actually don't know. Michael? Alex? Alfred – no wait, that's an awful name – who'd name their kid that? Erm, Harry? None of those names fit…"

Gilberta rolled her eyes. "Trust you to forget your own cousin's name," she teased.

"Hey well look at that! If it isn't my two favourite lesbian lovers!" a voice said loudly behind them. The girls froze.

"Eli," Gilberta growled. Elizabeth gave her friend a worried look. Gilberta and Eli Héderváry had known each other since they were children – back when they were next door neighbours and back when Eli was under the impression he was a girl. The two of them had been best of friends up until one faithfully scarring day when the two of them decided to go swimming in the nearby pond and Eli had revealed to _not_ be a girl but in fact, a boy. Gilberta had never forgiven him for scarring her horribly and Eli proceeded to assume that since Gilberta had been so horrified at seeing his 'manhood' she must not like boys. Since then the two of them had been butting heads and their relationship managed to get even worse the moment Eli started dating Gilberta's snobby cousin Veronika.

"Oh I'm sorry – was I interrupting something? Were you guys gonna start making out or something?" Eli asked, a freaky glint appearing in his eyes. Eli seemed to have some sort of lesbian fetish and seemed to enjoy the thought of two girls making out in front of him. Gilberta and Elizabeth shuddered in unison.

"God no – we were just discussing that day when Veronika got drunk and kissed that new student – the one from Switzerland, right?" Gilberta said, nudging Elizabeth discretely.

"What? Oh right – we were. It was so shocking – nobody thought that the new girl was into that sort of thing but there they were!" Elizabeth added. Eli's eyes widened.

"_My_ Ronnie? Kissing other girls? When I'm not there? I need to go find Kiku and see if he got footage of that!" Eli said with obscene relish before running off away from the girls.

"Pervert!" Gilberta cried out as he ran off. "Urgh he's so _weird_ – I honestly don't know what my cousin sees in him! He's such a pansy too – I mean, what kinda guy wears a _flower_ in his hair?" she fumed at Elizabeth.

Elizabeth shrugged. "The same type who dates a stuck up bitch like Veronika?" Elizabeth asked. She shuddered suddenly. "My father is making me go to her house on Saturday," Elizabeth added, wincing as Gilberta let out a horrified scream.

"Whoa! You're going to Ronnie's house on Saturday? How can you let yourself subject to such _horror_!" Gilberta cried out.

"I'm not! My father's forcing me to!" Elizabeth replied. "It's _awful_ – he thinks I need to have more culture in my life and is making play the violin alongside Veronika's piano!"

"So you let your Vati arrange a 'play date' with my snobby cousin?"

"There wasn't anything I could do! Father had his 'you-better-listen-or-else' look on. I can't believe I'm going to be spending my Saturday playing Chopin with Miss 'I'm A Better Musician Than You'll Ever Be!" Elizabeth said in anguish.

"LIZZIE!" a voice suddenly cried from out of nowhere. Gilberta barely had time to react as a blur tacked Elizabeth to the ground.

"Whaa-oof! Al? Get off of me!" Elizabeth cried out as Gilberta watched a rather scantily clad girl hug Elizabeth tightly. "AL!"

"You still have such a funny accent," the girl said standing up as Elizabeth got up to her feet and shot her a dirty look. Gilberta hardly thought the girl could talk – she had one of those drawling accents that made Gilberta think of cowboys, Brokeback Mountain and Hannah Montana. The girl suddenly glanced at Gilberta [and most likely saw her eyes] and her jaw dropped. Here it comes… "Whoa! Are your eyes real or are you wearing contacts?" the girl asked eagerly. Hadn't she ever heard of albinos? Gilberta had a feeling that this girl was the type to believe anything you told her.

"Yea they're real – I got them when a radioactive sheep bit me and now I have super powers," Gilberta said casually. The girl's eyes widened.

"Really?" she asked, squealing. Gilberta was almost amazed at how stupid the girl was – she actually believed Gilberta's story?

"Is this chick for real?" Gilberta muttered to Elizabeth who sighed in response.

"Sadly, yes. She is. Al – don't listen to her, she's just kidding. She's an albino and albinos generally have reddish eyes." Gilberta glared at Elizabeth.

"I liked my explanation better," Gilberta muttered to herself. Elizabeth heard and rolled her eyes.

"So… are ya gonna introduce me to your girlfriend or what?" the girl asked finally. Gilberta growled. Why did everyone automatically assume that she and Elizabeth were dating? Gilberta. Liked. Guys. She had had 4 boyfriends in the past year – not girlfriends – _boy_friends! It was infuriating and she blamed Eli for all the accusations.

Elizabeth had turned a bright red in response. "What? She's not – I mean – urgh, never mind. Alyssa, this is my _friend_ Gilberta. Gilbert – this is my idiot cousin Alyssa," Elizabeth said, motioning from each girl. Alyssa wrinkled her nose.

"Gilberta?" she asked. Of course of all things to comment on the chick would comment on Gilberta's rather awful name.

"Named after a great-grandfather, pleased to meet ya," Gilberta said coolly, extending her hand out for Alyssa. Alyssa made a move to shake Gilberta's hand when Gilberta's cell phone rang. "Hello?" Gilberta said quickly, secretly pleased she didn't have to shake the hand of Elizabeth's weird cousin.

"Gilbert! Where are you?" Antonio's voice said from the other line.

"Hey Toni… SHIT. I almost forgot – I'll be there in a few!" Gilberta said quickly before Antonio could rant at her. Gilberta turned to Elizabeth, who was giving her a rather curious look. "That was Antonio – I totally forgot I was meeting with them this morning – I'll see you later at English or something!" Gilberta said, already running off before Elizabeth could say anything.

"Don't go and get yourselves expelled on the first day!" Elizabeth called out warningly. Gilberta turned around and smirked at Elizabeth.

"Because you'd miss Francis if ya couldn't see him everyday right?" Gilberta said teasingly before turning back around and running towards the parking lot. As much as she would love seeing Elizabeth's furious look she had to hurry.

Antonio was a peaceful guy and all but the moment you made him waste time in meeting his precious girlfriend he was a monster. A monster Gilberta really did not want to meet.

* * *

><p>Feliciano skipped along merrily, humming a little tune under his breath. Behind him trudged Ludwig, who seemed to be in a bad mood. Feliciano had no idea why – it was such a beautiful day outside! Ludwig really needed to lighten up – if he were happier, combined with his strength and intelligence he'd be absolutely perfect! Or at least, that's what Feliciano's grandfather always told him – the perfect man was extremely happy, smart and strong. Nonno always told him that he should grow up to be the perfect man so that woman of all ages would love him the way they loved his Nonno. Feliciano didn't want to let his Nonno down – which is why he started hanging out with Ludwig Beilschmidt. Ludwig was brave and strong and smart and Feliciano wanted to be just like him so he could be brave and strong and smart! It was hard though – Ludwig told Feliciano that if he wanted to be strong and smart he had to do lots of work and training. During the summer the two of them had training sessions with their friend Kiku in which Feliciano would always manage to escape from to eat gelato or paint pictures with his Nonno before getting caught by Ludwig.<p>

When they had first met each other, Ludwig seemed to find Feliciano extremely annoying but as time worn on Ludwig began to be nicer to Feliciano. Feliciano always felt much safer with Ludwig to the point that whenever he had a bad dream he would climb out of his bedroom, walk to Ludwig's house, climb through the window and snuggle up beside Ludwig. Feliciano used to sleep with his sister Lovina but when he was 12 and she was 13 she started being really mean to him and told him to go away. Feliciano's Nonno told him that it was because Lovina was becoming a woman. Feliciano didn't quite understand how Lovina becoming a woman would make her be the meanest person alive once every month but didn't question it. Lovina didn't seem to like him going to Ludwig's house to sleep but as long as he managed to get home into bed before Lovina woke up he usually escaped Lovina's fury.

"Ve~ Ludwig we're almost at school!" Feliciano said excitedly. Ludwig grumbled to himself in response. Feliciano wondered why Ludwig was so grumpy this morning. Perhaps it had something to do with what Gilberta said at breakfast?

Feliciano really didn't understand what Gilberta had meant when she said everybody in the school knew about them. Did the entire school know that they were best friends? That was a good thing, wasn't it? Then why was Ludwig was so mad? Feliciano sighed. Perhaps Germans were always bad tempered.

Whatever it was, Feliciano hoped it would go away soon so Ludwig would be in a better mood.

* * *

><p>Alyssa Jones was excited. Ok maybe not excited because only nerds like Lizzie get excited for school – but close to it. This was Alyssa's fresh start. Nobody in this school (or in the country actually) knew who she was… yet. Alyssa's goal was to join as many clubs as possible – get her name known! By the end of the first semester everyone should be bowing down to her, kissing praises at her feet. By the end of the <em>year<em>she should be school president because everyone would've voted for her. Alyssa grinned. This was gonna be a great year!

"So you let your Vati arrange a 'play date' with my snobby cousin?"

"There wasn't anything I could do! Father had his 'you-better-listen-or-else' look on. I can't believe I'm going to be spending my Saturday playing Chopin with Miss 'I'm A Better Musician Than You'll Ever Be!" Alyssa looked up at the sound of the voice. She knew that prissy British voice from anywhere.

"LIZZIE!" Alyssa shrieked, running up to her cousin.

"Whaa-oof! Al? Get off of me!" Elizabeth cried out as Alyssa tackled her down. "AL!" Alyssa finally let go and stood up, letting the British girl get back up.

"You still have such a funny accent," Alyssa said through giggles as Elizabeth gave her a dirty look. Alyssa finally noticed the other girl (?) standing beside her cousin. Alyssa's jaw dropped. "Whoa! Are your eyes real or are you wearing contacts?" Alyssa asked eagerly. The girl rolled her red (!) eyes. Alyssa had never quite met a girl like the one that was now exchanging looks with Elizabeth before.

"Yeah they're real – I got them when a radioactive sheep bit me and now I have super power," the girl said casually. Alyssa's own blue eyes widened.

"Really?" she squealed. The other girl looked amused.

"Is this chick for real?" the girl muttered to Elizabeth, who sighed in exasperation.

"Sadly, yes. She is. Al – don't listen to her, she's just kidding. She's an albino and albinos generally have reddish eyes," Elizabeth told Alyssa ask the other girl glared at her.

"I liked my explanation better," the girl muttered to herself. Elizabeth rolled her eyes.

"So… are ya gonna introduce me to your girlfriend or what?" Alyssa said impatiently. The albino girl growled as Elizabeth turned a bright red.

"What? She's not – I mean – urgh, never mind. Alyssa, this is my _friend_ Gilberta. Gilbert – this is my idiot cousin Alyssa," Elizabeth said, motioning from each girl. Alyssa wrinkled her nose.

"Gilberta?" she asked.

"Named after a great-grandfather, pleased to meet ya," Gilberta said. Alyssa didn't think she seemed all too pleased but didn't question it. They were about to shake hands when 'Highway to Hell' began to play out of nowhere. "Hello?" Gilberta said quickly, answering her phone. Alyssa scowled. This had to be the millionth girl who had a cell phone! If moody albino girl could have one why couldn't she? It just wasn't fair! "Hey Toni… SHIT. I almost forgot – I'll be there in a few!" Gilberta turned to Elizabeth, who was watching curiously. "That was Antonio – I totally forgot I was meeting with them this morning – I'll see you later at English!" And with that Gilberta sprinted off in the direction of the parking lot.

"Don't go and get yourselves expelled on the first day!" Elizabeth called out. Gilberta smirked.

"Because you'd miss Francis if ya couldn't see him everyday right?" Gilberta said teasingly. Alyssa frowned. Francis? Who as that? Alyssa put that down on her mental note of things to find out about [before whether or not a tomato was a fruit and after whether or not aliens exist].

Elizabeth sputtered in indignation as Gilberta ran off. "That bitch," Elizabeth muttered under his breath. She glanced at Alyssa. "Well come on – we might as well not go late on our first day," Elizabeth muttered before stalking off. Alyssa could almost do summersaults in excitement.

Her awesome year was almost about to begin!

* * *

><p>Antonio Fernandez Carriedo was normally a patient boy. He could wait for months until the first tomato in his tomato garden was ready to be eaten. He waited for almost 10 years before asking out Lovina Vargas, the girl of his dreams. When it came to waiting, Antonio was a pro. Except for today.<p>

"Where is she?" Antonio asked [for the millionth time] as he paced in front of Francis, who was calmly lighting a cigarette.

"Calm down Toni – you called Gilbert a few seconds ago. It's not like she can teleport here or anything," Francis said smoothly as the light breeze made Antonio's white shirt rise, exposing some of his smooth tan skin. Francis exhaled, letting the smoke gush out of his mouth. It was all too tempting for Francis to just put his hands under that white shirt and feel the smooth, hardened, _muscular_ [here, Francis began to salivate] skin… it's not like Antonio would notice or anything. Yes, perhaps he should. Francis grinned wickedly, slinking towards Antonio…

"I'm here – I'm here!" Gilberta exclaimed, running up to the boys. Francis scowled, slinking back to his spot against the hood of his red Mustang.

Antonio sighed in relief, running a hand through his messy brown hair. "Thank _God_ – d'you know how long we were waiting here?"

Gilberta rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah – sorry. I ran into everybody's favourite Brit and got distracted. Hey! No smoking if you're not gonna share," Gilberta added, taking Francis's cigarette and taking a long drag. Francis made a face.

"Why would you want to spend time with such a stuck up little bitch like her?" Francis demanded as Gilberta leaned against the Mustang beside Francis.

"Hey she can be annoying but she comes from a family like mine. We get each other," Gilberta replied, handing the cigarette back to Francis, who had been attempting to put his arm around Gilberta's waist. Gilberta made a motion to burn Francis's arm with said cigarette and Francis retracted his arm quickly, taking the cigarette before Gilberta could threaten to do something worse.

"I honestly don't get _you_ sometimes," Francis muttered before placing his lips on the cigarette. Francis had known Elizabeth for quite a long time and the two had always been arguing with each other. This Gilberta and Antonio knew very well. What Francis had neglected to tell them was that he and Elizabeth had established an almost friendship that only the two of them knew about and that only came out whenever the two were alone together. Neither Gilberta nor Antonio had seen the day when Elizabeth and Francis would be civil to each other and frankly, Francis hoped that day would never come. He rather liked arguing with Elizabeth. It was constant, it was regular, it was expected – it was _normal_. Whenever things got too bad or too weird for him to handle, he could always count on Elizabeth to be there, arguing with him and making snide comments about him just as always. Francis sighed, rolling his eyes. Figures he would be spending his morning thinking about the British girl.

"You just say that because you wish you could be close to her," Gilberta teased, grinning. Francis glared at her, a brief flashback of a drunken night appearing in his mind.

"Never say that again," he warned, shaking the image [of a naked Elizabeth] away from his mind. Gilberta's left eyebrow [and eyebrow piercing] rose.

"Or what?" she asked, sensing a fight [or challenge].

"Listen guys – as much as I love watching you two tear each other apart, can we get this over with?" Antonio cried out impatiently. Gilberta and Francis exchanged a look.

"Ok then – what's the plan?" Gilberta asked.

"Painting 'BTT WAS HERE' on the wall, oui?" Francis asked.

"I still think we should put 'Bad Touch Trio' instead of 'BTT'," Gilberta muttered as Antonio passed her a can of orange paint.

"I don't care! I want to get this over with!" Antonio exclaimed.

"How much time do we have left anyways?" Francis asked before being interrupted by the ringing of a bell.

"Crap! I promised Lovi that I'd meet her at her homeroom!" Antonio exclaimed, grabbing his backpack and running off, leaving Gilberta and Francis alone.

"And he was the one who wanted to do this the most," remarked Francis drily, dropping his cigarette on the ground and squishing it.

"You still want to do this?" Gilberta asked. Francis shrugged.

"I was hoping to see Angelique…" Francis admitted. Gilberta rolled her eyes.

"Good luck with that," She said as Francis walked away. "I guess it's all up to me then," she said, eyeing the wall critically and lifting up a paintbrush, a wicked smile growing on her face. "This is going to be fun," she said as she made her first mark on the wall.

* * *

><p>Elizabeth sighed for the umpteenth time as Alyssa continued to chatter. It had only been a few minutes since Gilberta had run off and already Elizabeth was wishing she had gone with the other girl. Even being near Francis was better than being near the epitome of annoying. And loud. And obnoxious.<p>

"And then I'm going to join the Archery team, the photography club, the gay-straight alliance…" Alyssa rambled on. Elizabeth noticed that the American girl was still wearing her signature mini skit with a crop top and worn brown cowboy boots – even if it was September. In freaking CANADA. Elizabeth wondered if Alyssa truly wasn't cold or if she was too stupid to notice the chilly weather.

"Wait, what? You're joining the gay-straight alliance?" Elizabeth asked, surprised. It was usually the artsy, out-cast type people [like Gilberta] who joined GSA, the rest of the school population preferring to go for more mainstream clubs. Elizabeth hadn't pegged Alyssa as artsy or as an out-cast.

"… the cheerleading squad, the senior band… hmm? Oh yea, of course! I think its cool heteros like me can support homosexuals like you and your girlfriend!" Alyssa said beaming. Elizabeth fumed quietly to herself and wished for a lightning bolt to come out of nowhere and strike Alyssa dead.

"I told you before – I'm _straight_ and Gilbert's just a friend!" Elizabeth exclaimed heatedly. Alyssa burst out laughing.

"Relax Liz – I was only pulling yer leg," Alyssa said winking as she patted Elizabeth's back. Elizabeth felt herself being propelled forwards and gave Alyssa a death glare. "I know you're straight – I know about you and Francis, ya know."

Elizabeth visibly paled, freezing right in front of the school doors. "What? How did you – it didn't mean – it was a one night thing only!" Elizabeth exclaimed.

Alyssa whistled a long note. "So there _is_ something between you and that guy – I only heard your friend mention him but I had no idea something had actually happened!" Pushing Elizabeth into the school and linking her arms with the stunned British girl. "Ok girl – spill. I want to hear all the deets!" Alyssa said eagerly. Elizabeth regained her senses and pushed Alyssa off of her.

"There is nothing! Nothing at all! I just hate the stupid slutty frog and he hates me back! That's it!" Elizabeth said in indignation.

"Sure," Alyssa teased. Elizabeth glared at her cousin and wished some form of a distraction could appear so that she could somehow escape Alyssa.

"I say – isn't your stepbrother supposed to be here today too?" Elizabeth asked, desperate to change the subject. What was his name again? Michael? Harry? Arthur?

"Oh right. MATTHEWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!" Alyssa shrieked [making Elizabeth wince since it had been right in her ear], looking around. "_Maaaaatiiiiiiiieeeeeee_!" People were beginning to stare. Elizabeth wished she were invisible.

"I-I'm right here, A-Al," a voice said shyly. Elizabeth blinked twice. Out of nowhere appeared a boy with wavy blonde hair (with an odd extra long curl) and violet eyes. Elizabeth was sure the boy hadn't been there a few seconds ago. Perhaps he was some sort of pixie or sprite? Elizabeth would have to check her encyclopaedia of magical creatures when she got home.

Alyssa beamed at the boy. "Matthew – this is our boring cousin Elizabeth. Elizabeth, this is my stepbrother Matthew." Boring? Elizabeth glared at Alyssa before shaking Matthew's hand. It was rather shocking how the two step-siblings looked alike, as though they were actually related by blood.

"You two look a lot like you're actually related," Elizabeth remarked.

Matthew flushed as Alyssa beamed. "He looks just like me, doesn't he?" she asked eagerly.

Even with Elizabeth's limited knowledge of boys, she knew Matthew did not appreciate being compared to a girl, but Matthew did not say anything. Elizabeth felt a flash of pity towards her new cousin.

The bell suddenly rang. Elizabeth jumped in shock; she hadn't realized she had been standing underneath the bell. As Alyssa giggled at Elizabeth's reaction she blushed a deep red. "I have to get to class now. If you want to register in the office the office is down the hallway to your right," Elizabeth didn't bother to wait for a goodbye and walked off in search of her math class. Elizabeth wasn't looking forward to math. She was terrible at the damned subject – English was her forte. It didn't help that she had the hardest marking grade 12 math teacher in the entire school. Elizabeth groaned. Her life really sucked right about now.

… and it was about to get worse.

* * *

><p>Lovina glared at the locker across from her as though it were offending her in some way. If her little [annoying] brother were there he would've said the colour blue that the locker was the exact same colour blue that Ludwig's eyes were. Lovina growled. Stupid potato bastard.<p>

When Lovina woke up this morning she had gone to wake up her brother for his first day of school so that he wouldn't sleep in the entire day and miss it [like last year]. When he had reached his room, to her fury he was not there. There was no doubt of where Feliciano might've been in Lovina's mind. He definitely at the potato bastard's house. He wasn't doing much to diffuse these rumours.

It's not like Lovina was against gay people or anything. Sure she had been raised by her very religious parents to believe they were bad and all but her grandfather [who she and her brother were now living with] taught them to love everyone for who they are. So if her brother was gay, she didn't mind, not at all. She just didn't want him to be gay for the potato bastard.

Lovina had hated Ludwig Beilschmidt ever since their first meeting – when she was 12 and he was 11. The way Feliciano clung to his side and sung praises about the German boy made Lovina's skin crawl. Feliciano never said nice things about _her_. Then again, except the tomato freak [her boyfriend Antonio] and her grandfather whenever he managed to actually pay attention to her and not 'adorable, sweet Feli!' nobody else said nice things about her. Not that Lovina cared.

Anyways, back to the potato bastard. Ever since their first meeting, Ludwig had managed to piss her off in some sort of way. And whenever she tried to get revenge she ended up embarrassing herself in some sort of way! Lovina hated the potato bastard vehemently.

"Lovi~ my darling tomato~~" a voice cooed from nearby. Lovina resisted the urge to slam her face into a locker. Just as she was worrying about Idiot # 1… there came Idiot # 2!

"How many times have I told you not to call me that!" Lovina hissed as Antonio Carriedo [aka one of the hottest boys in the school] pulled her into his arms. Despite herself, Lovina found herself swooning. Antonio always managed to smell so nice... Lovina wished she could stay in Antonio's arms forever…

Wait, what? Lovina pushed Antonio off of her. The last thing she needed was for people to think she was a big softie.

"Lovi you look so cute when you blush!" Antonio exclaimed, attempting to hug Lovina again. Lovina scowled.

"Just get away from me you idiot!" Lovina exclaimed as the bell rang. "I need to get to class now."

"But Lovi~"

"But nothing. I'm going to be late to class. You should go too. My boyfriend isn't gonna be a skipper," Lovina said, scowl returning. If her parents found that not only was she dating a boy a year older than her but a _troublemaker_… well, it'd be goodbye Antonio, hello life as a nun.

Lovina reluctantly turned away from Antonio and walked into her first period class.

She could always hang out with him later right?

* * *

><p>Matthew's life sucked. Harder than his step-sister with her ex-boyfriend, harder than a leech, it <em>sucked<em>. Why? Well, first his _papa_ goes and falls in love with an obnoxious American woman during his business trip to America and decides that hey, a guy can only live once so let's go and get married in Vegas and then tell my son about it the next morning! Matthew didn't even get to have a say it – it just _happened_.

And then there was Alyssa. Alyssa seemed like one of those girls who made fun of him back in Montreal – bitchy, slutty… you know the type. Surprisingly though, the moment she had found out she had a new older step-brother she was ecstatic. Her enthusiasm in having a step-brother equalled out the lack of enthusiasm Matthew had.

He would've been fine living in Montreal with a new mother and a new sister. But then his father had to go and suggest moving to Toronto because his stepmother's business had a branch there and… here he was now. Trudging down the sidewalk, miles behind his stepsister. Alyssa hadn't stopped talking about how she was going to become the most popular kid in school. Unlike most girls, knowing Al, she'd probably end up doing it too. Matthew rolled his eyes. He wasn't looking forward to being invisible in another school… or speaking English. It's not like Matthew _couldn't_ speak English – he could, fluently – he just didn't want to. He preferred speaking French and now… now he had to speak English 24/7. Le sigh.

Matthew managed to look up in time to see his stepsister tackle down some random girl. It was probably their cousin, Elizabeth. Funny… Matthew had expected her to look more, uptight? All the pictures Alyssa had of Elizabeth showed her with two long pigtails and a schoolgirl style uniform that one would only see in TV shows like Madeline or something. This girl had wilder hair [not in ponytails] and punk clothes, like the girl standing beside her. Matthew rolled his eyes. Obviously his new cousin was a bit of a rebel.

Matthew watched as the other girl ran off from Alyssa and Elizabeth and left the two of them alone. Alyssa must've forgotten she had been walking to school with him. He decided to just continue trailing behind his stepsister and his cousin as they started walking into the school.

He could hear bits and pieces of their conversation but really did not care. Once or twice Matthew heard the name Francis and thought it was funny because his father knew a man who had a son named Francis that was the same age as he was. The two hadn't seen each other for years but Matthew still had scarring memories of the last time they met.

From the looks of Elizabeth, the British girl was ready to throttle Alyssa about whatever she was saying. Matthew smirked. Alyssa had a tendency to do that a lot. It was funnier because it was always purely unintentional.

"Oh right. MATTHEWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!" Alyssa shrieked suddenly, making Matthew jump. Why the hell was she calling his name out? Alyssa literally _turned around and stared past Matthew_ before looking around frantically. Could Alyssa not see him? Matthew fumed silently to himself. "_Maaaaatiiiiiiiieeeeeee_!" Matthew sighed. To any other person this would've been insanely mortifying but hey – it's not like anybody could see him or anything. Ah well, might as well let Alyssa know he was there before she lost her voice or something. He didn't want to piss off Al – she was abnormally strong for a girl.

Matthew walked up to Alyssa and Elizabeth. Neither girl saw him yet. "I-I'm right here, A-Al," Matthew said, cursing himself for his stuttering. He was never very good at talking to people he didn't know. His father had said it was because he hadn't properly matured yet. His mother had said it was because he was just like her and preferred not to talk. Matthew's heart squeezed. His mother…

Alyssa beamed at him. "Matthew – this is our boring cousin Elizabeth. Elizabeth, this is my stepbrother Matthew." Again with the unintentional insulting – or was it intentional this time? With Alyssa, Matthew couldn't really be too sure. Elizabeth glared at Al before shaking Matthew's hand. Elizabeth's hand was cold and clammy… like a corpse… like his mother's… Matthew mentally shook himself. There was no point to thinking about his mother on the first day of school. He was going to end up sobbing in the washrooms, being discovered by the toughest boy in school and then spending his last year of high school as the cry-baby.

"You two look a lot like you're actually related," Elizabeth remarked. Matthew flushed; ever since he met Alyssa, people had been saying that to them more than ever – whenever they managed to notice him.

Alyssa beamed. "He looks just like me, doesn't he?" she asked eagerly. Matthew scowled. Matthew Williams was many things and _feminine-looking_ was not part of that list. Matthew never considered himself to look like a girl. Besides, Matthew was older by a year and three days. Didn't that mean Alyssa looked like _him_? Elizabeth seemed to understand this however – she gave him a sympathetic look, though maybe Matthew was just imagining it. Elizabeth's unfortunate eyebrows made it hard to decipher emotions at times.

The bell suddenly rang, startling the heck out of Matthew. Matthew let a breath, clutching his chest. The bell in this school was insanely loud. It seemed to rivet one's brain. At least he hadn't been the only one startled by the bell – Elizabeth had jumped. Matthew hid a grin as Alyssa giggled at Elizabeth.

"I have to get to class now. If you want to register in the office the office is down the hallway to your right," Elizabeth said, walking off already.

"Guess it's just you and me now isn't it Mattie?" Alyssa said, beaming at her brother. Matthew wished Alyssa wouldn't call him that. It didn't help the 'looks like a girl' thing.

"I guess," Matthew muttered, walking alongside Alyssa.

"You know, I have feeling about this year. I think big things are gonna happen – to the both of us!" Alyssa said, nudging Matthew as they walked towards the office. Matthew grunted in response. As if. This was going to be just another typical year for Matthew, just like all the others.

"Hello, how may I help you?" a voice said cheerfully at the secretary's desk. Alyssa sauntered up to the old woman at the desk and beamed at her.

"Hi! I'm new here – my dorky cousin says I have to register before going to class," Alyssa informed her. The woman smiled.

"What is your name?" she asked, turning to her computer.

"Alyssa E Jones," Alyssa said proudly. The woman typed the name in and frowned.

"It says here that you are an Alyssa _F_ Jones," the secretary stated. Alyssa rolled her eyes.

"It's actually an E for Emily – they made a typo at my old school," Alyssa replied. The secretary nodded seriously.

"We'll have to change that," she murmured, typing a few things into the computer. "Alright then, Alyssa _E_ Jones, your first class is English in room 132 which is down the hall around the corner, first door to your left. Here's a map and your schedule for the day," the secretary said, handing Alyssa two pieces of paper. "Have a good first day!"

"Thanks!" Alyssa replied, beaming. She walked out of the room confidently. Matthew wondered wryly why the secretary didn't notify his stepsister of her obvious dress code violations. He then walked up to the secretary's desk and cleared his throat.

"Hmm?" the secretary looked up. "Are you having trouble finding room 132 sweetie?" she asked.

"Um… I-I'm not Alyssa. I'm her s-stepbrother… Matthew W-Williams," Matthew said, turning pink. The secretary blushed as well. Great, first day of school and he's already been mistaken for a chick. Perhaps it was time to invest in a haircut.

"Whoops! The two of you look so darn similar! Let me see… you have…French first period," the secretary said, handing him his schedule and map. "That's in room 208."

"Thank you," Matthew said, turning and walking out of the office, thanking his lucky stars that his best subject was first. Maybe finally something good could come from moving away from his beloved Montreal.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Also known as "****I Fucking Left My Heart With A Canadian And He Throws It Away For A Freaking Big Breasted Chick!" the title is the short form ;D**

**Goddamn, I was supposed to write this story last year. This is what happens when you procrastinate, guys. **

**And don't worry, I promise the chapters won't be this long. This is just the introduction to the main characters and I couldn't figure out where to cut it off. **

**The main pairings will be PruCan, FrUK, Spamano, GerIta, AmeRus and AusHun but there will be more. Just ask if you want to know the other pairings, or have any questions about the story [like the names I chose and such]**

**Review?**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two: 

_Feliciano never pulled his eyes away from Ludwig. His unwavering gaze made Ludwig's face heat up…_

"Hello Kiku," Ludwig said as he walked up to the Japanese boy who evidently was in his first period class, history. Kiku looked up from what he was writing on his laptop.

"Hello Ludwig," Kiku said, smiling. "How was your summer?"

Ludwig smiled. "You know how my summer went. I was with you most of the time," he replied.

"And Feliciano too," Kiku added. Ludwig remembered what Gilberta had told him in the morning.

"Er yes, him too. Kiku, have you talked to my sister recently?" Ludwig asked, clearing his throat awkwardly. Kiku stared at him.

"The last time I spoke to her was on your birthday. Which was in February. She was pelting me with cake crumbs and I kindly told her to stop. Why do you ask?" Kiku inquired. Ludwig sighed.

"She said that you had told her you believe Feliciano… Feliciano and I were more than just friends," Ludwig admitted, blushing and looking away.

Kiku immediately went into panic drive. How did Gilberta know about how he secretly thought Ludwig and Feliciano were a couple? He had not told anyone about it! Had he been _that_ obvious? Kiku inconspicuously closed the open document on his laptop before Ludwig could see his name in it.

"That is very odd," Kiku said finally, fighting to keep his face neutral.

Ludwig sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose with his thumb and index finger tiredly. "It is, isn't it? I mean, Feliciano is a very nice boy and all, but I don't like him in that sort of way. I like girls," he added, glancing at Kiku. Kiku decided to nod. "When I was a kid, I used to like a pretty girl who lived next door to us." Suddenly, Kiku was intrigued. This girl could possibly be the villainess of _Hansel and Gretalia_? Kiku's fingers itched to write that down. But first… he needed to know more.

"What was her name?" Kiku asked curiously. Ludwig frowned.

"That's the weird thing… I don't remember. I remember _her_… but I don't remember anything else. It was around that time Gilberta was going through her World War 2 phase," Ludwig mused to himself.

"Gilberta had a World War 2 phase?" Kiku asked curiously. Ludwig nodded.

"Ever since she had found out her namesake had been a Prussian general in the war she wanted to act it out. At first we tried being famous generals but we were only kids and didn't know any famous generals to act out. So Gilberta had the idea of us all pretending to be countries," Ludwig explained.

"Countries?"

"Yes. I was Germany, Gilberta was Prussia, a girl who lived with us was Hungary, our cousin Veronika was Austria and _she_ was North Italy."

"Why just North Italy?"

"Because she had an older sister who wanted to be Italy too. Gilberta made her South Italy," Ludwig replied. Intriguing.

"What was…North Italy like?" Kiku asked curiously. He wondered if she had any traits that could make her a good evil villainess.

Ludwig paused to think. "North Italy was very cute. She also liked to paint. I don't remember much else about her, except that when we moved, she gave me a paintbrush to remember her by," he said. Kiku was conflicted; North Italy, whoever she was, seemed too sweet to make a villainess. Now how was he supposed to fit her into his story? Perhaps she could be a lost love… yes! That could be it! She could be a lost love who appears back into Ludwig's life just as he and Feliciano are becoming more than just friends and Ludwig could be torn between who he really loves – perfect!

"Welcome to grade 10 history," a proud voice said at the front of the room. Kiku and Ludwig faced the front to see a dark skinned woman with dark brown eyes and long black hair smiling at them. "I am Mrs. Hassan. We will begin class by distributing textbooks out. You there," she said, pointing to Kiku, "Will you please hand out textbooks to your row? Remember to write your name down on the inside cover so you do not lose it."

Kiku got up from his desk, walking towards the large pile of books. He wished he could've found out more about North Italy, but he knew that school was more important than any silly story he could write.

He would just have to ask Gilberta for more information, and find out how she knew about his Ludwig and Feliciano shipping.

* * *

><p>As Alyssa bounded towards her English class, she saw a tall blond boy hitting on a dark skinned girl with black hair tied up by a red ribbon block the door.<p>

"But cherie," he protested, attempting to put an arm around the girl's waist. She slapped the arm away.

"Just get to your first class," she hissed at him angrily. "I'm done talking to you." It was obvious to Alyssa that this chick didn't want that guy near her at all.

"Angelique, please be reasonable-"

"Hey bub she said she wanted you to leave. So leave!" Alyssa interrupted, steamed. This dude was beginning to act like her douchebag of an ex.

The boy looked at her. "Cherie, you don't even know what we're talking ab-"

"I don't need to know. She told you to go away so you should leave," Alyssa retorted. The boy sniffed snobbishly.

"For a pretty girl, you seem to have a problem with sticking your nose in other people's business," he said but walked away regardless.

"Thanks," the girl said in relief, smiling at Alyssa.

Alyssa grinned. "No prob! You seemed like you needed a heroine to save you and there I was! The guy seemed like a total creep anyways," she said. The girl smirked slightly.

"Francis is my ex-boyfriend," she admitted. Whoa wait – what? Had that been the mysterious Francis that Lizzie and her friend had mentioned before? Interesting…

"Oh. Whoops," Alyssa said sheepishly, blushing slightly. The girl laughed.

"But I agree," she said winking. "I'm Angelique," she introduced, extending her hand out. Alyssa shook it energetically.

"I'm Alyssa E Jones! But you can call me Alyssa or Al," she drawled. Angelique's perfect left eyebrow rose.

"Did you recently move here?" she asked curiously. Alyssa nodded.

"Moved here from Kansas to live with m'step-daddy and his kid," Alyssa replied cheerfully. She peered into the classroom, where she saw her fellow students just lounging at their desks, talking to their friends animatedly. "Uh… where's the teach?" she asked in confusion. Angelique grinned.

"Mrs. Karpusi's probably still trying to get her son Heracles – who is _really_ hot by the way – to wake up or something. She'll arrive soon enough. Come on – let's sit together!" Angelique said energetically, taking Alyssa by the hand and leading her into the classroom. "I'll introduce you to everyone!"

Alyssa beamed. She only just arrived and already she was making friends!

This year was going to be a cinch!

* * *

><p>This year was going to be awful, Elizabeth was sure of it. The first inclination of such a realization was the moment she ran into class and sat down. Only seconds after taking her seat and pulling out her things, she realized she was sitting directly in front of the board. That was an automatic 'the-teacher-will-choose-you-to-answer-every-damn-question'. Elizabeth swore under her breath.<p>

The second reason started with an F, ended with a G and rhymed with 'rog'. As Mr. Wang stood up and began handing out sheets of paper, while explaining that he was giving them a test to see how much they remembered, Francis Bonnefoy [aka the boy Elizabeth hated with a passion] came running into the room.

"You are late," Mr. Wang stated, eyes narrowing. Francis gave him a charming smile.

"You see sir, I had been on my way to class when I encountered a poor lost ninth grader who was practically in tears because she couldn't find her class. As a senior, I thought it was my obligation to show her to her class and calm her down. You cannot condemn me for trying to be a good role model for my peers," Francis said smoothly. Elizabeth rolled her eyes. Francis was obviously bullshitting. The only reason he would stop for a ninth grader was to molest the poor girl.

Mr. Wang sighed. "Just sit down please," he said, returning to handing out sheets. Elizabeth noticed with dawning horror that the only free seat left was next to her. Elizabeth quickly covered the seat with her backpack. Francis saw the motion and smirked.

"Sir, there is no seat left. Perhaps I can sit next to the pretty blonde over there?" he asked, pointing to near the back. Elizabeth heard a giggle and guessed that he was pointing to some bimbo or whatever.

Mr. Wang frowned. "There is a seat right there next to her," Mr. Wang said, pointing in Elizabeth's direction. Curses! Elizabeth scowled.

Francis made a face. "Must I sit next to her? Her shapeless eyebrows make me cringe in horror," he said dramatically. Elizabeth flushed as the people around her laughed. Elizabeth wished she could turn Francis into an actual frog and donate him to the biology class. Oh Hogwarts, why didn't you send a letter to Elizabeth? Was it because she moved to Canada? Elizabeth was sure she could've been a far better witch than Hermione. And her eyebrows weren't shapeless! She just didn't see why she needed to trim them and shape them with painful tweezers. All that effort for them to grow back again.

"Yes. Now sit," Mr. Wang said sternly, continuing to hand out sheets of paper. Francis sighed dramatically and trudged over to Elizabeth. Elizabeth reluctantly put her bag down on the ground. Francis slid into the seat beside her and gave her a charming smile.

"Bonjour," Francis said. Elizabeth glared at him.

"No talking during the quiz," Mr. Wang said as he handed them their papers. Elizabeth stared at the numbers in confusion. Ambiguous cases...trigonometric identities... goddammit she was forgetting it all! Elizabeth wanted to slam her face into her desk. Stupid numbers, stupid rules, stupid math. English was so much more straightforward than this. You just had to read stuff and answer questions. The answers were all right there in front of you! And Shakespeare? So much easier trying to decipher olde English than trying to figure out angles or whatever question 6A was asking for.

"You're having trouble, oui?" a voice whispered to her. Elizabeth chose to ignore it. She wasn't going to get in trouble for speaking during a test. She wanted to have a good impression on Mr. Wang. Hopefully he wouldn't mark her so hard if he actually liked her. "The answer to 6A is 58 degrees by the way," he whispered. Elizabeth frowned, shooting her hand into the air.

"Sir, this boy is trying to get me to tell him what the answer is for certain questions. I can't concentrate. Will you please move him away from me?" she announced.

Mr. Wang stared at her and Francis, taking both of their tests. After glancing at both of them, Mr. Wang smirked.

"I'm afraid he wouldn't have gotten the right answers from you if you had told him anything. Most of these are wrong," he said, handing her sheet back to her. The class stared laughing – Francis included. Elizabeth turned a bright red. "Continue with your tests. Hopefully we will not have any more interruptions," Mr. Wang said, giving Elizabeth a stern look.

"Pity. And here I was hoping that I could be moved away from you," Francis whispered idly, twirling his pencil between his fingers. Elizabeth growled.

She really couldn't wait for this class to end.

* * *

><p>Veronika Edelstein closed her eyes as she played the piano, feeling like she was in heaven. It was rather thrilling; having the music teacher let her perform for her fellow students. She could finally show them <em>true<em> music – unlike that 'pop' crap that they usually submerged themselves in.

As her fingers pressed the keys, she could picture the class watching her with admiring eyes – _adoring_ eyes, just like how her mother and father did when they watched her play. Veronika was sure that they were slowly realizing how utterly foolish they had been and that classical music truly was the best type of music there was.

There was really nothing that could ruin this moment. Really.

BAM. "Hey Ronnie I need to talk to you!"

Never mind.

Veronika's eyes flew open, pausing at the last bar. The teacher looked surprised at the newcomer, who had thrown the door open.

"Yes…?" they asked uncertainly.

"I need to talk to Ronnie—Veronika," the intruder said breathlessly. The teacher and Veronika exchanged a look and Veronika nodded.

"I'm afraid I will have to finish _Minuet in G_ after this," Veronika said to the class before exiting the music room. The class let out a collective sigh of relief.

"I thought she'd _never_ leave," one kid said and the rest agreed. Most of them really joined grade 10 music to play the currently popular songs with their instruments. None of them had signed up for listening to Veronika 'Snobby' Edelstein play classical music.

Meanwhile outside, Veronika was giving her boyfriend a stern look. "Eli I thought you knew better than to interrupt one of my classes. What will the teachers think? What will my fellow students think?" she inquired. Eli blushed in embarrassment.

"Sorry but I heard something that I _really_ needed to get confirmed by you," Eli said urgently. Veronika's perfect left eyebrow rose.

"Oh?" she asked curiously.

"I heard that you made out with Heidi Zwingli – the new girl from Switzerland!" Eli said eagerly. Veronika sighed at the glint in her boyfriend's eyes. Eli was really a sweet boy and a wonderful boyfriend… but his obsession with lesbians was bordering on creepy. It was to the point that he had recruited Kiku Honda, a Japanese boy that was in her grade, to help him film any girls…'in action'.

"Who told you that?" she asked warily, predicting the answer before it left her boyfriend's mouth.

"Gilberta and Elizabeth!"

"Since when has anything my aggravating cousin ever told you been true?" Veronika asked. Eli bit his lip.

"Never…"

"Exactly."

"So you _didn't_ make out with that Heidi chick?" Eli asked in disappointment. He was disappointed. He was disappointed that Veronika had been faithful and did not have an amorous affair with another female. Veronika sometimes wondered what went on in Eli's head.

"I would never. I love you too much," Veronika said. Eli grinned at her.

"I love you too!" Eli said, leaning in to kiss her. Veronika made sure it was a small dainty kiss; the last thing she needed was someone – heaven forbid a _teacher_ – to walk by and see them and assume things. Veronika was a proper lady and didn't want people to think else-wise. "But if you kissed that chick I would've been _so_ happy-"

"That will never happen."

* * *

><p>Noah Nikolas Zwingli bit his lip as he sat down, looking around curiously. So this was what high school was like. His sister had made it seem like it was a dangerous place and told him to call her the moment something bad happened. This room… this room didn't seem <em>too<em> dangerous.

Grade 9 was very intimidating for the young boy. It had only been a few months since he and his sister Heidi moved to Canada from Switzerland – he had only been in the grade 8 elementary school for 2 months before 'graduating' and summer starting. He didn't have enough time to make any friends. Noah swallowed nervously.

Noah really wanted to make friends, but he was scared they would make fun of his accent. He didn't want anybody to make fun of his accent… it would hurt his feelings.

Noah glanced at the boy sitting beside him. He looked nice; he had messy whitish blonde hair and was drawing pictures of a puffin absently on a piece of paper. Perhaps they could be friends. "Um… hello," Noah said shyly. The boy looked up and glanced at him.

"Hey," he said. Noah smiled at him slightly.

"I'm Noah. I'm new here," Noah said. The boy frowned.

"Aren't we all? This _is_ our first day of school after all," he said and Noah flushed.

"Y-yes but… me and my sister moved here a few months ago. So I really am new," Noah told him.

"Oh. I'm Hinrik," the boy said.

"Nice to meet you… Hinrik," Noah said politely. Hinrik nodded before turning back to his drawing. Noah attempted to start a conversation once again. "You draw very well," he said shyly.

Hinrik looked up at him with violet eyes. "Do I? Thanks. My… _sister_ doesn't think so," Hinrik said with a scowl. Sister? Noah was immediately interested.

"You have a sister too?" Noah asked. "I have one – she's in grade 10. How old is yours?" he asked.

"My sister's in grade 10 too. She's weird," Hinrik replied.

"Weird?" Noah asked.

"Yeah. Weird. She stares at you like she's staring into your soul. And she hardly talks – ever. She claims that our ancestors were Vikings and she says she can see fairies and stuff. Weird with a capital W," Hinrik said. Noah blinked.

"Oh… my sister Heidi is just very protective of me. She didn't like the fact we'd be in separate grades. She's afraid that something bad might happen to me," Noah admitted.

"I wish my sister would care for me like that," a cold voice said behind Noah. Hinrik paled. Noah turned to see a boy with silvery blonde hair and piercing blue eyes glaring at the both of them.

"Y-you have a sister too?" Noah said conversationally, trying not to be _too_ terrified of the boy. He gave the girl sitting beside the boy a shy smile. The girl looked at him in terror; shaking like there was no tomorrow.

"Yes. Two. Ivanna and Katyusha. They are my half-sisters," the boy said briskly.

Noah nodded. "O-oh. How old-"

"16 and 17."

"Oh." Noah looked at Hinrik for help, but he had gone back to drawing his puffin, this time drawing a little bowtie for the puffin. Noah turned back to the other boy, who was still giving him a cold stare. "What's your name?" Noah asked, trying to be friendly.

"Vladimir. Vladimir Arlovski," the boy said. Noah nodded, trying to smile.

"I'm Noah Zwingli. I moved here from Switzerland a few months—"

"I heard."

"Oh…" Noah really didn't know what to say. To be frank, Vladimir scared Noah _immensely_. Noah decided to talk to the girl sitting beside Vladimir. "Hello," Noah said kindly. The girl stared at him in terror, still shaking. Noah wondered it was because she was sitting beside Vladimir that she was so scared.

"H-hi," she said quietly. Noah smiled at her gently.

"I'm Noah. What's your name?" he asked.

"L-Leva," she replied shyly.

"Nice to meet you. Do you have any older sisters?" Noah asked. He found it more comfortable to talk to the terrified girl rather than Vladimir.

Leva nodded. "I-I have one in grade 10 a-and a brother in grade 11," she said hesitantly. Vladimir made a growling sound. Leva looked terrified. Noah wondered if he should ask her if she wanted to exchange seats with him; she looked like she was going to faint.

"I dislike your brother," Vladimir growled. Noah blinked in confusion; Vladimir knew Leva's brother? "My sister likes him too much."

"You must be very protective of your sister," Noah said, glancing at Leva [who was steadily turning paler and paler by the second] before looking back at Vladimir.

"I want to marry her," he said stiffly. Noah stared at him.

"Did you say _marry_?" Hinrik said, turning around to face Vladimir, puffin picture forgotten.

"Yes," Vladimir replied coldly.

"You do realize that you can't marry your own siblings – that's against law and it's more than_ kinda_ creepy," Hinrik prompted. Vladimir smirked and Noah felt a shiver down his spine.

"I will marry her," he said.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: This is a long first day of school. I just want to get all the characters introduced so I can get into the plot. Review and I'll update faster~! Again, if you have any questions on the naming or anything, feel free to just review and ask :D**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three:

"Can Gilberta Beilschmidt please come to the office? Gilberta Beilschmidt, please come to the office _immediately_," a voice said over the intercom at the end of first period. Gilberta grinned as she stood up.

"On the first day of school?" the teacher said, surprised as Gilberta strolled towards the door. "This early?"

"There's no such thing as too early," Gilberta replied cheekily as she exited the room with her backpack.

"Are you Gilberta Beilschmidt?" a pretty blonde woman said at the secretary's desk. Gilberta nodded, sitting down on the second chair to the door – the chair she always sat in whenever she was called down to the office.

"Are you new?" Gilberta asked. The woman frowned and nodded. Gilberta smirked. "What happened to Mrs. Smith?" Gilberta asked.

"She's on her break right now," the secretary told her. Gilberta laughed.

"Sucks – I thought she finally died," Gilberta joked. The secretary looked horrified.

"Ms. Beilschmidt can come see me now~!" a voice called out from the principal's office. Gilberta didn't need the secretary to tell her; she was already walking into the office the moment she heard the principal's voice.

"Hey man, what's new?" Gilberta said casually, sinking into Principal Vargas's cushioned chairs. "Hey how old is your secretary?" she asked suddenly.

"25," came the reply.

Gilberta whistled. "Damn Mr. Vargas you like 'em young don't you?" she joked, winking. Principal Vargas laughed.

"She's pretty isn't she?" he asked eagerly. Gilberta grinned. Principal Vargas had to be one of the most carefree, funniest adults that Gilberta knew. It was weird that he was also her father's best friend and her best friend's girlfriend's grandfather but hey, at least it meant she would never get on his bad side.

"She's definitely your type," Gilberta informed him. Principal Vargas beamed.

"That's what I thought too! Mrs. Smith doesn't like her very much," Principal Vargas told the teenager.

"Mrs. Smith doesn't like anybody, the old hag," Gilberta said scowling. Mrs. Smith only liked those goody-two-shoe types and Gilberta was nothing close to that. The past three years of high school included Mrs. Smith yelling at Gilberta, Francis and Antonio about various things, yelling at Principal Vargas when he failed to punish them.

Principal Vargas chuckled good-naturedly. "Anyways, the janitor was cleaning the grounds today when he found one of the school's walls gratified with 'BTT Was Here'. As I remember, you, Francis and Antonio's little group is called the Bad Touch Trio, yes? Do you know who might've done this?" Principal Vargas asked. Gilberta grinned.

"I did," she said casually. "Francis and Antonio were supposed to help but Francis went off chasing skirts and Antonio went to see your darling granddaughter Lovina," Gilberta informed him.

"You did? You have very good artistic skills – I like how you made the lettering!" Principal Vargas said enthusiastically.

"Thanks! Your grandson helped me with that over the summer – when he wasn't hanging out with my bruder," Gilberta told him.

"Feli helped you with that? He's such a good artist~!" Principal Vargas said, beaming. The bell suddenly rang, signifying the end of period one. "Oh whoops! You should probably get on your way to second period – it's not good to be tardy on the first day!" he said.

Gilberta stood up. "Alright. Nice talking to you, Marcus. You should come over for a visit one day. Vati's not as strict whenever you're over," she said.

Principal Vargas beamed. "He's coming back from his business trip on the 12th isn't he?" he asked. Gilberta nodded. "Then me, Feli and Lovi shall be at your house on the 12th!" he proclaimed. Gilberta grinned.

"See you then!" she said cheerfully, walking out of the room.

As she exited the room, the secretary gave her a sympathetic look. "Detention for a week?" she asked. Gilberta snorted.

"Of course not," she replied.

"Do you have to wash that paint off?"

"Hell no – that's what the janitor's for."

"Then what's your punishment?"

"Nothing," Gilberta said casually, smirking at the look of shock on the woman's face. "Oh and by the way – Marcus totally has the hots for you." She winked and walked out of the office, laughing.

It was second period, eh? Hmmm… Gilberta took out her schedule out. It said there that she had her photography class. Awesome. Gilberta sauntered down the hallway, whistling to herself. From the sounds of what the seniors had said the year before, the photog class was pretty epic. She couldn't wait.

Matthew tapped his pencil impatiently on the desk. Already fifteen minutes into the class and the teacher showed no signs of actually _teaching_ the class anything. Matthew had chosen the photography class because he loved photography and honestly, he had been expecting to learn about photography techniques and all that wonderful fun stuff. What he _wasn't_ expecting was the teacher to be lazily reading a magazine [_Vogue_ no less] and the class just… _chilling_. Seriously – they were just lounging around, talking about anything they wanted to.

It annoyed Matthew. He felt like doing something about it – like telling the teacher to start the lesson or something plucky like that.

Of course, even if he did it wouldn't be like anyone would notice.

Sometimes being invisible was really annoying.

"The awesomest chick you'll ever meet has arrived!" a voice proclaimed, kicking the door open. Matthew started at the sudden loud sound. Looking up he saw a girl with white hair [and purple streaks], red eyes, a cool scar under her right eye and an eyebrow piercing walking into the room. Matthew remembered vaguely seeing her standing beside Elizabeth before running off. She looked like one of those types you'd generally avoid; the ones who could beat the crap out of you for no good reason. Matthew looked away.

The teacher had no response to the girl's entrance. She was still calmly flipping through her magazine, entirely bored.

"Hey Gilbert, heard you were called to the office. What for?" a boy asked curiously. 'Gilbert' as Matthew supposed, smirked.

"Oh you know the usual; vandalizing," she said airily. The boy laughed and raised his hand up for a high-5.

Matthew busied himself with doodling on his notebook. The last thing he wanted was for 'Gilbert' to notice him. She seemed like the type who would bully the hell out of guys like him.

Unfortunately for him, she had already seen him. Passing her friends she made her way towards the empty chair beside the blond and sat down. Matthew could see her staring at him curiously from the corner of his eye. He continued to doodle, pretending as though he hadn't seen her.

"Yo," she suddenly said a few minutes later, poking the side of Matthew's head. Matthew decided to ignore him. She tried again. "Hey kid – I'm talking to you," she said. Matthew shot her a brief glance and noticed she was resting her head on her left hand, using her right to poke him lazily. "You know, you'd be really cute if you'd just answer me," she remarked, making a move to poke him again. At this point, Matthew turned, blushing furiously at her comment.

"What is it?" he asked. 'Gilbert' shrugged.

"Never seen you here before. You new?" she asked. Matthew nodded, turning back to his doodling. Matthew felt her leaning in to see what he was doodling. "Polar bears?" she asked. Matthew could practically hear the contempt in her voice.

"I like them," he replied stiffly. 'Gilbert' burst out laughing.

"Hey, no need to get offended kid – I was just surprised. I didn't think you'd be the drawing type," she replied.

"I'm not. I just have nothing better to do than wait for the teacher to start the lesson," Matthew replied. 'Gilbert' smirked.

"Kid, Mrs. Bruni doesn't teach anything on the first day," 'Gilbert' informed him.

"Stop calling me kid," Matthew said, irked. "It's Matthew, alright? Matthew Williams."

"Gilberta Beilschmidt, the awesomest chick you'll ever meet, pleased to meet you," Gilberta said, extending out a pale hand. As Matthew took it, she grinned wickedly. "I have a feeling we're gonna be _real_ good friends."

* * *

><p>Lovina frowned as she let herself be dragged away by a blonde haired girl who had introduced herself as 'Alyssa E Jones, professional hero'. The two girls had met when Alyssa had collided into the short tempered Italian at the beginning of second period. Alyssa proceeded to ask if Mr. Adnan really was a mean teacher as she had heard right as <em>Mr. Adnan walked by! <em>

So, it was safe to say that Lovina quite disliked Alyssa. A lot. Like she did with most people, but that was hardly the point.

"Hey do they serve burgers in the caf? I'm totally craving for a Big Mac right about now," Alyssa chattered as she dragged them both towards – well, towards who knows where. Lovina frowned, wrenching her arm out of Alyssa's grip.

"I don't know – I never eat the cafeteria food. It tastes like crap. Besides, you're going the wrong way. The caf is this way," Lovina said, walking in a different direction.

Alyssa blinked before chasing after Lovina. "But if you never tried the food, how do you know that it tastes like crap?" she asked.

Lovina's frown grew. "I-I…" she paused. Alyssa did have a good point. "I just know, dammit!" Lovina exclaimed, irritated.

"Whoa," Alyssa said as they walked into the cafeteria. "Your caf is pretty freaking huge," she remarked. Lovina rolled her eyes.

"Get used to it," Lovina replied. Alyssa whistled in appreciation, looking around.

"The boys here are something, ain't they?" Alyssa asked as a senior passed them. Lovina shrugged casually. They were alright, she supposed, but not really her type.

"I guess," Lovina admitted. Nearby them, she saw Antonio and Francis standing together. Lovina scowled. Francis better not be groping Antonio. Again.

"Oh ew there's that douche Francis – I saw him being a total jerk to his ex Angelique during homeroom. He's so gross!" Alyssa remarked and for once Lovina had to agree with the blonde. "But take a look at the guy _beside_ Francis! Hot dayum, I'd tap that," Alyssa joked, nudging Lovina playfully.

Lovina's scowl deepened. Sure, she spent most of her time yelling at him and pretending they weren't actually together but hell, Antonio was still _her_ boyfriend and she sure wasn't ready to have some new girl making eyes at him!

"He has a girlfriend," Lovina replied through clenched teeth.

Alyssa smirked. "I bet she's some stupid prep chick. I bet I can totally steal him from her. Who is she? Point her out, will ya? I wanna see if I'm prettier," Alyssa asked eagerly. Lovina's face turned a bright red. Lovina knew she wasn't the prettiest girl out there [hell, she was only average] but she did _not_ appreciate Alyssa's comment.

"She's me," Lovina said irritably.

"What?" Alyssa asked in confusion as Antonio approached them. "Oh my gosh he's getting closer! D'you think I should make my move?" she asked eagerly.

"Lovi!" Antonio exclaimed, planting a kiss on Lovina's cheek. "How were your first two periods?" he asked

Smirking at the look of horror on Alyssa's face, Lovina decided not to punch Antonio and push him off of her but rather to hug him back and give him a light kiss on the cheek. Antonio blushed slightly at the uncharacteristic move.

"Lovi?" Antonio asked quietly in confusion.

"HI! I'm Alyssa, a friend of Lovina's," Alyssa introduced, extending a hand out. Lovina frowned at the 'friend' part. She sure didn't consider Alyssa a friend.

"Hi! I'm Antonio – Lovi's boyfriend! Any friend of Lovi's is a friend of mine!" Antonio said cheerfully, shaking Alyssa's hand enthusiastically. Lovina scowled at the both of them.

"Hey Al! Come sit with us!" a voice called out. Lovina turned her head at the sound. An eyebrow rose when she saw Angelique waving at Alyssa. Figures that Alyssa would make friends with one of the bitchiest girls in their grade.

Alyssa gave them an apologetic look. "Sorry but I gotta sit with Angie. I'll talk to y'all later. Bye!" Alyssa said cheerfully, walking away.

Antonio waved her goodbye. "She seems like a nice girl," he remarked. Lovina scowled.

"Don't get your drool on me," she replied irritably. Stupid Alyssa.

Antonio looked perplexed. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"Nothing – let's just get to our table," Lovina said, dragging Antonio away.

* * *

><p>"Oh come <em>on<em> Lizzie, stop being annoying!" Gilberta groaned as Elizabeth shook her head for the umpteenth time.

"I refuse to sit anywhere near that frog," Elizabeth replied angrily.

Kiku watched this all occur not too far away from where he was standing. He waited until Elizabeth stomped away before approaching Gilberta.

"Urgh all this food looks like something Elizabeth could've made," Gilberta muttered as she stared at what looked to be lasagna.

"Um... Gilberta?" Kiku asked hesitantly. Gilberta turned around to see Kiku standing there behind her. She beamed.

"Hey Kiku - what's up?" she asked casually, putting a loose strand of hair behind her ear. Kiku took a deep breath in. She _seemed_ nice enough...

"I was talking to your brother in h-history class today," Kiku began. Gilberta smirked.

"Poor you. Did he start ranting about World War 2 again?" Gilberta asked. Kiku shook his head.

"N-no... he said that at breakfast this morning you mentioned something about me thinking Ludwig and Feliciano were practically a couple..." Kiku said. "I was wondering... how did you know that? Is my belief about them really that easy to spot?"

Gilberta stared at him before bursting out into laughter. "Kid, calm down - you were the first name that came into my head when I was teasing Luddy. I thought I was just bullshitting - I had no idea you actually thought they were like a couple," Gilberta reassured him. "But damn, I'm good."

"Do you think that Ludwig and Feliciano are like a couple?" Kiku asked the older girl. Gilberta grinned.

"What I'm about to say to you stays between us, okay? I want Ludwig to figure this out on his own," Gilberta said quietly. Kiku gulped and nodded. "Ok. So back before our cousin Veronika was an über rich bitch and _way_ before Ronnie's mom married that rich dude, she and her mom and her mom's first husband - this musician, were really poor, so they lived with us. Meanwhile, the Hédervárys lived in the house to our left. Not many people know this because they're all living in different parts of world and are married with children and shit - but Eli had a crazy amount of sisters. Older ones. Eventually when Eli's dad's business went bankrupt they all became really poor and since my mom was friends with Eli's mom she offered to let them stay with us."

"What does this have to do with Ludwig and Feliciano...?"

"Don't rush me I'm getting to that."

"Okay..."

"Anyways, because Eli was basically growing up with a house full of women - not including my brother who was 4 and our dads who were rarely there anyways - Eli started to think he was a girl. It's not really his fault - they were too poor to afford boys clothing so Eli ended up getting his sister's old clothes which were all girls' clothes. The reason I'm telling this is because in the house next door to ours, the same thing was happening. Ish. Before Feliciano and Lovina were living with their über rich grandfather, they were living with their parents who... no offense to them, were kinda odd. They had money, yeah – Mr. Vargas wasn't mean enough to deny them their inheritance and crap but they never bothered using any of that money. They wanted to be all spiritual and only reuse everything they had. So instead of buying Feliciano girl clothes, they made him wear Lovina's old clothes. Feliciano was only 4 at the time as well so just like Eli he started thinking he was a girl."

Kiku stared. "Oh..." he said, finding it rather odd that one of his best friends for a time thought he was a girl.

"Yea. Weird isn't it? Anyways, because me, Eli, Luddy, Feli, and Lovina were around the same age we all began to hang out. The sad thing was Ludwig was under the impression that he was playing with a group made up of only girls. If you ask him about when Eli used to live with us he'd tell you that that wasn't true because he thought Eli was some girl. Same with Feliciano."

"Ludwig thought that... Feliciano was a girl?" Kiku asked. That meant that… that meant that the North Italy from Ludwig's story was actually in fact Feliciano! Scratch the idea of a long lost love returning and messing up their relationship just as Ludwig and Feliciano were getting closer than friends – Ludwig should start remembering Feliciano from his childhood and _that_ would lead to them become more than just friends.

Gilberta nodded. "Yeah. Ludwig really liked Feliciano - he thought she was really cute and a really good painter. But because he's German and Germans like Ludwig aren't good at expressing their feelings, he never told 'her'," Gilberta continued.

"Aren't you German too?" Kiku asked, perplexed. Gilberta rolled her eyes.

"Nah I'm Prussian - I was named after my great-granddaddy who was some noble Prussian man or something. He was also an albino so his blood's running through my veins. Luddy and our parents are German; I'm Prussian. Anyways, Veronika's dad - that musician dude - got hit by some car and died. It wasn't even 4 months after his death when Ronnie's mom met this über rich business dude and got married to him. They moved to the rich part of town and since Auntie Maria didn't want to leave us behind after all we'd done for them she made _us_ move as well. Naturally, Luddy and Feliciano were really heartbroken about that idea. I was already starting to realize that Eli wasn't a girl and was a creeper so I didn't really care. On moving day Ludwig and Feliciano said bye to each other for what they thought would be the last time and Ludwig kissed 'her'. To this day Ludwig still wonders what happened to that cute girl and Lovina says Feliciano doesn't like thinking of the boy who liked him because it makes him sad since he misses him," Gilberta finished. It was _way_ too tempting to write this new piece of information down along with what he already had in his story. Kiku's fingers itched to write it all down. He'd just have to make sure Ludwig never found out.

"Kiku? Why are you talking to my sister?" a voice asked behind him. Kiku's eyes widened. Speak of the devil...

"Hey Luddy how was your first day?" Gilberta asked cheerfully. Ludwig stared at her.

"What were you two talking about?" Ludwig asked suspiciously. Gilberta laughed and rolled her eyes.

"We were talking about lesbian porn and how we love it so much," Gilberta said sarcastically. Ludwig glared at her. Gilberta laughed. "I'll see you at home alright? Nice talking to you Kiku," she said winking, walking away. Kiku stared at her in horror.

How had _she_ known about his secret love for lesbian porn?

* * *

><p>Matthew frowned, looking around for a spot to sit. He'd probably end up sitting alone like a loner or with his step-sister and the 50+ friends she probably managed to make.<p>

"Hey Mattie! Over here!" a voice called out. Matthew looked in the direction the voice came from, even though he knew fully well they probably weren't calling for him.

What he saw, however, was Gilberta waving frantically at him. Debating mentally on whether or not to go sit with the out-going Albino girl, Matthew decided it'd be more eventful sitting with her than in a secluded corner alone.

"Took you some time to get here," Gilberta teased, throwing an arm around his shoulders. Matthew blushed, feeling slightly awkward.

"Hands off my cousin, you git," a voice said threateningly. Matthew looked up to see Elizabeth sit down across from there.

Gilberta looked surprised, taking her arm off of Matthew's shoulders. "You two are related? I could hardly tell – he seems to be lacking the Kirkland family's signature eyebrows," she teased and Matthew held back a smile. Elizabeth _did_ have rather thick eyebrows…

"He's my cousin because his father married my aunt. He's the step-brother of Alyssa, the idiot I introduced you to in the morning," Elizabeth clarified, scowling. "Speaking of which – have you seen her? She's sitting at the Bitch Table."

Gilberta gaped at the British girl. "No way! Lemme see!" she exclaimed, turning her head. Matthew followed Gilberta's gaze to see his step-sister indeed sitting with a group of girls and three boys.

"Who are they?" Matthew asked curiously. Before either girl could answer, a pair of arms wrapped around him.

"Mathieu? Is that really you? My, how you've grown!" Francis said exuberantly. Elizabeth scowled.

"Hands off my cousin, frog," she replied. Francis stared at her.

"Why is _she_ here?" Francis asked Gilberta.

"Because I wanted her to, so suck it," she replied. Francis sniffed but sat beside Matthew anyways, running a hand up and down the poor boy's back. Matthew shivered and attempted to inch away from the other boy, closer to Gilberta. Francis really _hadn't_ changed at all. Gilberta shot Francis a look and he took his hand off of Matthew's back. Matthew gave Gilberta a thankful smile.

"Anyways, back to your question. These girls are the most popular, bitchiest girls in the entire school. It's insanely hard for anyone to join them so it makes me wonder what she did to earn a spot at their table," Elizabeth remarked, taking a bite out of a sandwich.

Francis frowned. "Are you talking about the newest addition to the Bitch Table? What a nosy girl – she told me to go away while I was trying to reconcile with Angelique," he said.

"So I heard. Alyssa thinks you're gross," a girl said as she and a tanned, cheerful-looking boy joined the table. The girl frowned at Matthew. "Who's he?" she asked, ignoring Francis's horrified cry.

"M-Matthew Williams," Matthew introduced, feeling slightly intimidated by all the attention he was receiving.

"Oh," she said with disinterest, already ignoring Matthew.

"Hello! I'm Antonio and this is my cute little Lovi~!" Antonio said enthusiastically, holding a hand out for Matthew to shake and hugging Lovi with the other arm. Lovina scowled as Matthew shook her boyfriend's hand.

Gilberta rolled her eyes at Lovina. "Yeah so the bitches are as follows," Gilberta said, directing Matthew's attention back to her. "That one's Elise, she's the head of the bitches. Bisexual and totally like a female Francis," she teased, pointing at a pretty girl with blonde slightly wavy hair. "Her older brother is this really hot but kinda weird pothead, Lars. He's also one of my exes," Gilberta added casually.

"Why did you two break up again?" Elizabeth asked.

Gilberta shrugged. "I found these really creepy pictures of little girls in skimpy outfits on his computer," she said.

"Freaky," Elizabeth commented.

"Almost as freaky as the monstrosity that is your eyebrows," Francis said lazily. Elizabeth shot him a glare.

"That's Katyusha," Gilberta continued, ignoring them both, pointing at a girl with large… _assets_. "She's actually really nice and totally not bitchy at all. I think the only reason she's there is because her big boobs attract guys. Chick's got a pretty crazy family though; her younger sister's a bit of a creep and her little brother wants to marry her sister. Freaky, right?" Gilberta asked. Matthew blinked and nodded. And to think that _he_ had considered his own new family dysfunctional…

"That's Angelique by the way, my girlfriend," Francis butted in, pointing to a pretty, dark-skinned girl with a ponytail tied up with a red ribbon, sitting beside Alyssa.

"Ex-girlfriend actually," Gilberta clarified and Francis scowled. "She's the type who's really nice to your face but behind your back is an über bitch."

"Who's that?" Matthew asked curiously as Gilberta paused in her diatribe to eat, pointing at a girl with long black hair, glasses, a funny random strand of hair sticking up [just like Alyssa] and a small beauty mark on her chin.

Gilberta scowled. "That's Veronika, my cousin. Bitchiest, snobbiest girl you'll ever have the misfortune of meeting. She, Angelique and Elise are like the Holy Trinity of the bitches. Anything they say, goes. The dorky boy sitting beside her is her boyfriend, Eli. Once upon a time Eli used to think that he was a girl and during that once upon a time we were best friends. Now we hate each other because I grew a brain and Eli realized he couldn't use me for his sick girl on girl fetish, no matter how hard he tried," Gilberta told Matthew.

"And because dating Veronika was probably the stupidest thing he could've ever done," Elizabeth added.

"Exactly. Anyways, the Asian chick is Mei – who's actually kinda nice if you get on her good side. Katyusha and Mei are kinda like the Holy Trinity followers or something. The Asian dude beside her is her boyfriend," Gilberta continued, pointing to a pretty Oriental girl next to a boy with a rather blank expression on his face.

"And that girl?" Matthew asked, pointing to the blonde girl with a ponytail and skirt.

The entire table burst out laughing. "Matt, that isn't a chick," Gilberta informed him. "That's Feliks. He likes to cross-dress." Gilberta chuckled at the look of horror on Matthew's face. "The boy beside him is Toris, Feliks's best friend."

"He looks a lot like a girl – Feliks, I mean," Matthew added hastily. Gilberta smirked.

"That's Feliks for you. A total hardcore cross dresser. But yeah, that's the Bitch Table. A group of girls you really don't want to mess with," Gilberta concluded.

"Because you'll really, really regret it," Elizabeth added.

"You're just jealous," Francis said, smirking at the look on Elizabeth's face.

"Yes, because I'm jealous of a bunch of slutty bitches who spend their days gossiping and shopping," Elizabeth agreed sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

"Please, it's so obvious that you're jealous," Francis countered.

"Jealous? Why the bloody hell would I be jealous of _them_?" Elizabeth asked angrily.

"They're much prettier than you," Francis taunted.

"Looks aren't everything -"

"I bet they're better at math than you are," Francis continued. Elizabeth's face turned a dark red.

"Don't you _dare_ bring up math again-"

"They have nicer bodies than you do-"

"That's not what you told me that night!" Elizabeth cried out.

There was a sudden silence. Although Gilberta constantly annoyed Elizabeth with it, nobody really mentioned what happened between Elizabeth and Francis that night out loud.

Elizabeth looked horrified with herself. Standing up, Elizabeth fled the cafeteria without a backwards glance.

"I need to take a walk," Francis announced, standing up. "Would you like to accompany me, Antonio?" he asked.

Antonio grinned sheepishly. "I was kinda hoping to eat lunch with Lovi-"

"That wasn't a question," Francis interjected, dragging the Spaniard away. Lovina and Gilberta continued eating as though nothing out of the ordinary had just occurred.

"What just happened?" Matthew asked, mystified.

Lovina rolled her eyes. "Elizabeth brought up the taboo topic," she replied before returning back to her pasta lunch.

"What's the taboo topic?" Matthew asked.

"Oh, just some night where she and that perverted bastard slept together while drunk," Lovina replied absently.

"You're not telling it right! Let me explain!" Gilberta demanded.

"Be my guest," Lovina replied lazily.

"Ok – so it was during my awesome party and everyone was there – Lizzie, Francis, Antonio – even the Holy Trinity and their bitches were there," Gilberta began.

"I was there too – even though I _wasn't even invited_!" Lovina interjected, glaring at Gilberta, who snorted.

"With good reason too – you're a total party pooper. I'm surprised Toni got you drunk enough to willing make-out with him," Gilberta remarked, expertly dodging Lovina's attempted punch.

"So it was at your party…?" Matthew prompted.

"Oh right. Yeah, it was at my awesome party and me and my friend Lea were doing our best to keep Lizzie away from the booze because well, she's an awful drunk," Gilberta continued. "But then I got distracted by this hot Greek boy, Heracles and we uh, went to my room and by the time I got back, Lea told me Elizabeth had already gotten to the beer and was already quite drunk."

"You went and had sex at your own party?" Lovina said in disgust.

"Hey, when a hot Greek boy wants some from you, you give it," Gilberta retorted. "Anyways, she and Francis – who was actually quite drunk on wine too, not as drunk as Liz but close enough – had started arguing about Francis's ex-girlfriend."

"Angelique?" Matthew asked, glancing over to the girl who was laughing at something Alyssa was saying.

"What? Oh, no. We're talking about back in grade 9 – Francis had this girlfriend named Jeanne and she and Elizabeth hated each other like crazy. And then one day suddenly she dumped Francis and moved away. Nobody knows why but everyone thinks it's 'cause of Elizabeth. Anyways, they're all arguing and stuff and suddenly, they disappear. Next thing I know, they're having drunken sex on my brother's bed," Gilberta told Matthew.

"You have a brother?" Matthew asked.

"Yeah. A dorky 15 year old one. He wasn't at the party – he was chilling with Lovina's adorable brother Feliciano and their friend Kiku. Ludwig actually doesn't know about how Lizzie and Francis did the nasty on their bed," she added in amusement.

"You never told the potato bastard?" Lovina asked in horror. Gilberta shrugged.

"People always end up having sex on his bed during my parties," she replied. "But back to the story. Lizzie and Francis could've forgotten about the incident and could've pretended like it never happened if it weren't for the fact that Elizabeth lost it."

"Lost what?" Matthew asked, confused.

"Lost _it_. You know, she popped her cherry, she got her muffin buttered, she -"

"She lost her virginity to him," Lovina cut in irritably.

"Oh," Matthew said uncertainly, feeling rather uncomfortable hearing about his cousin's first sexual experience.

"But yeah, that's basically it. Now it's all awkward between them because Elizabeth brought it up and blah blah blah. I'm craving chocolate, you want some?" Gilberta asked, getting up without waiting for an answer. She walked over to the vending machine. Lovina went back to ignoring Matthew.

Matthew watched the girl walk away, reflecting on how insanely different his new life was to the one back in Montreal. He wished he could go back there once more.

* * *

><p>"How was your day so far?" Heidi asked her brother as they ate lunch together. She wished they could've sat somewhere further away from the stupid table where that Veronika was sitting at. She disliked seeing the other girl and her pretty hair and self-confident smirk… The two girls had known each other as little girls [Veronika went to Switzerland yearly for vacations] and it disgusted Heidi to see how much Veronika had changed.<p>

"It was alright… I made a new friend – his name is Hinrik and he likes drawing puffins," Noah said brightly. Heidi smiled slightly at him. Noah was just the cutest thing ever sometimes – not that Heidi would ever tell him. Heidi wasn't the type to tell people how she felt. "What about you, sister? How was your day so far?" he asked keenly.

Heidi snorted. "Boring. The teachers are boring and the students are boring. They're all boring," she remarked.

"Oh," Noah said uncertainly. "That's not good. I hope you have more fun next period!" Noah added, smiling sweetly at his sister. Heidi blushed.

"Thank you," she replied stiffly.

"Hey can I sit here?" a voice asked from behind Heidi. Heidi tensed up; they were talking to her brother.

"Hi Hinrik! Of course you can! Sister doesn't mind… right?" Noah asked hopefully. Heidi turned to see a white-haired boy and violet eyes staring at her.

Heidi shrugged nonchalantly. "Whatever," she replied, looking away. The boy took his seat beside Heidi and began to talk to Noah. She watched them, staring at the boy suspiciously. Heidi was very protective of her brother… but the boy [Hinrik, her brain supplied], didn't seem like a threat. She went back to eating, letting the two boys talk amongst each other.

"I will sit here too," a dark voice said a few minutes later, from behind Heidi. Heidi's head shot up, alarm bells ringing in her head. A tall boy with silvery blonde hair and piercing cold blue eyes stared at Noah. Heidi stood up briskly.

"No you won't," Heidi said fiercely. "I don't trust you," she added – and it was the truth. Heidi did _not_ think this boy was a good friend for her little brother and wanted him as far away from Noah as possible.

"Who are you?" the boy shot at her, staring at her with his blue eyes.

"I'm Noah's sister. Now leave before I shoot you," Heidi threatened. It was a bit of an empty threat; she didn't have a gun on her.

"I don't care if you're Noah's sister. I was asking Noah," the boy replied. He turned back to Noah, who was staring at them in slight horror. "May I sit here?" he asked. Noah gulped.

"Um actually…" Noah mumbled, fumbling for a response. His sister was giving him a look that clearly said 'NO' and Hinrik was openly shaking his head yet at the same time Noah didn't want to refuse Vladimir – the guy was terrifying!

Thankfully, the bell rang. Noah stood up quickly, putting away his things. "Sorry but I have to go to class now!" Noah said, thanking his lucky stars and God that he didn't have to answer the very intimidating boy. Before Vladimir could reply, Heidi had grabbed Noah by the arm and dragged him away. Hinrik stared at Vladimir for a few seconds before chasing after them, not wanting to be left alone with the other boy.

Vladimir rolled his eyes and went to his next class as well.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Holy Chuck, I need to stop writing such long chapters T_T" **

**Please review?**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four:

Elizabeth ran a hand through her hair, pacing the hallways again. It had been a good ten minutes since the bell rang and she was still outside. She hadn't quite yet calmed down after her little outburst at lunch. Elizabeth was half inclined to punch a locker in her frustration. She had worked _so_ hard to forget about the Incident and just like that in a middle of a stupid argument she managed to bring it back up. What had they even been arguing about anyways?

Finally realizing that a perfect, reformed lady such as she really shouldn't be skipping classes – especially on the first day – Elizabeth ran towards her English class, cursing herself for nearly skipping her favourite course and possibly getting into the teacher's bad books.

"Sorry," she gasped out as she ran into the English room. "I'm _so_ sorry," she apologized profusely as the teacher stared at her in confusion. "I'm afraid I lost track of the time and didn't hear the bell ring – I'm sorry!" she apologized again.

To her surprise, the teacher smiled. "It's alright, sit down. I'm Ms. Mary. I'm the new English teacher," she replied. Elizabeth smiled back shakily before sitting down next to Gilberta, who had evidently been saving a seat for her.

"I'm Elizabeth," she said before sitting down. Ms. Mary nodded and she continued on with what she had been doing before – which was handing out sheets.

"What are we doing?" Elizabeth whispered to Gilberta. Gilberta shrugged.

"One of those things they always make us do on the first day, those 'introduce yourself so I can get to know you better' sheets," Gilberta answered.

"Oh," Elizabeth said in relief, leaning back on her chair. Gilberta rolled her eyes.

"You're such a pansy, getting worked up for nothing," she teased. "But good thing you finally managed to come – I need to talk to you about something," Gilberta continued, face serious. Elizabeth blinked at her. She had never seen a serious Gilberta before.

"About what?" Elizabeth asked nervously.

"You know your cousin?" Gilberta began. Elizabeth frowned.

"Alyssa?" she questioned.

"No, no – Matthew," Gilberta said in annoyance. "Is he gay?" she asked. Elizabeth stared at Gilberta.

"No?" Elizabeth said. Gilberta let out a sigh of relief.

"Ok good. I didn't want to risk anything," Gilberta said. "He's cute. Don't you think we'd make an awesome couple?" she asked.

Elizabeth blinked. "You…and my cousin?" she asked, ever so entirely horrified. "Don't even _think_ of raping his innocence," she threatened, just as Ms. Mary walked by. The teacher turned to give the two girls a look and Gilberta stifled a laugh at Elizabeth's mortified expression.

"I'm not going to rape his innocence," the self-proclaimed Prussian continued once the teacher was gone. "I just want to get to know him better, and how better can I do that than by asking you what he likes?"

Elizabeth sighed. Gilberta had that steely, determined look in her eyes and Elizabeth knew that there would be no point in trying to dissuade her. Once the girl set her eyes on a boy she wouldn't give up.

This was going to be a long class.

* * *

><p>Francis stared at the Spaniard with a horrified expression. "Repeat what you just said," Francis said, his left eye twitching.<p>

"The way you rant about Elizabeth, I think you may like her," Antonio repeated, looking mystified. The boys had decided to skip their next period to continue their discussion.

"I think Lovina might be right; you _are_ an idiot," Francis said in surprise.

"What? No I'm not!" Antonio protested. "I'm just saying – the way you go on about her, it's like you harbour secret feelings for her. Gilbert's right – you guys _do_ have some unresolved sexual tension going on… although it might be resolved now," Antonio joked, laughing. Francis punched his arm. "Ow!" Antonio exclaimed, pouting.

"Gilberta thinks we have unresolved sexual tension?" Francis asked, wondering if it would be going against his moral obligations to punch Gilberta as well.

"She isn't the only person," Antonio replied, slightly miffed that Francis had punched him.

"Obviously they are mistaken," Francis said huffily. As if _he_ could ever harbour feelings for _her_. "Because although Elizabeth has long flowing blonde hair and enchanting green eyes and her body is smooth and supple and her intelligence is refreshing – there is nothing I like about her!" he exclaimed.

Antonio stared at him. Francis stared back. "I know Lovina calls me slow sometimes… but did you just hear what you said?" Antonio asked.

"I said that there is nothing I like about her," Francis replied.

"Before that. Repeat that again," Antonio prompted.

"I said…I said she had flowing blonde hair and enchanting green…_oh_," Francis said, gasping. Now that he thought about it, he always found Elizabeth beautiful – it had been one of the reasons why he decided to drunkenly sleep with her that faithful night.

"See?" Antonio said excitedly. "You _do_ like her!"

"I can't possible hold feelings for that poor excuse for a girl," Francis said, shaking his head.

"You're just like Lovi when she didn't want to admit she liked me! It's so cute~!" Antonio cooed, reaching over and pinching Francis on the cheek. Francis scowled, swatting the hand away.

"I don't like her," Francis said flatly. Antonio rolled his eyes, just as they heard the bell ring.

"I have to go to class now – but I hope you stop being in denial soon! You and me could go on double dates!" Antonio said cheerfully, walking away and leaving Francis alone to his thoughts.

* * *

><p>"Did you see that cute boy who was with that bitch Gilberta and her crew?" Elise whispered across Alyssa to Angelique in their biology class. Angelique nodded.<p>

"He totally has cute potential!" Angelique added.

"I hear he's a senior named Matthew," Elise informed them. "I heard Gilberta say his name."

"Mattie?" Alyssa asked, looking confused. Were her new friends actually talking about her sweet ol' step-brother?

"You _know_ him?" Elise asked incredulously.

"Of course I do! He's my step-brother," Alyssa replied cheerfully. Elise's perfectly shaped eyebrow rose.

"Is that so?" she asked. "Well then, you should tell him to keep away from Gilberta and her friends. They're bad news."

Alyssa frowned. "Bad news? Gilberta's friends with my cousin Elizabeth – Elizabeth's totally not bad news, she's such a prude," Alyssa said with a laugh.

"You really don't know your cousin well then, do you?" Angelique asked, smirking.

"Of course I do!" Alyssa protested.

"Did you know what Elizabeth and Francis did at Gilberta's party a few months ago?" Elise asked. Alyssa frowned, shaking her head. "Did you know that Elizabeth used to bully people back in grade 9?" Again, Alyssa shook her head. She knew her cousin could be snarky at times, but a bully? That totally wasn't Elizabeth.

"You really _don't _know your cousin," Angelique said in awe.

"You really need to tell your step-bro to stay the hell away from those girls," Elise said. "Gilberta dated my brother for a while – urgh, she's such a bitch, you have no idea how hard it was for me to get her to break up with him," Elise said.

"What'd you do?" Alyssa asked. Elise shrugged.

"Put child porn on his laptop," Elise said and she and Angelique giggled. Alyssa blinked, feeling slightly horrified. "But don't worry – Gilberta's far worse. She's like, always getting into trouble and she's the biggest slut _ever_."

"Yeah – she hangs out with my ex Francis and Antonio – who's really, really hot but really, really stupid. I mean, out of all the girls in the school, why would he date _Lovina_ of all people?" Angelique asked.

"But Lovina's nice!" Alyssa protested weakly. Elise and Angelique exchanged a look and burst out laughing.

"Lovina...nice? Are you retarded? Lovina's one of bitchiest girls in the entire school – she'll be up in your face for no good reason! She's like, always pissed or something. I don't even know where she gets it – her little brother Feliciano is like, the sweetest little thing ever," Angelique cooed.

"And her grandfather is the principal so even if she beats you up or anything, she won't get in trouble for it," Elise added.

"Oh my gosh Mr. Vargas is like, the hottest old guy _ever_," Angelique remarked. Elise giggled.

"He's like, a total GILF!" Elise said and the two burst into giggles.

Alyssa stared down at her paper thoughtfully. Why didn't Elizabeth ever tell her about what she did at school? Elizabeth always seemed too uptight and proper whenever they saw each other in the summer. And Gilberta… well, Alyssa already had a feeling she was no good [I mean, who actually has red eyes and claims they were bitten by a radioactive sheep? It screamed _freaky_ and _bad_]. Alyssa made a mental note to tell Matthew to stay away from Gilberta – she'd probably corrupt Mattie or something and a heroine like Alyssa would never let that happen.

* * *

><p>Gilberta smirked as she entered her last period class, Home Ec. Her usual cooking partner [the one she had since last year], Lea, was wearing a noticeably low-cut shirt.<p>

"Pull up your shirt, you whore," Gilberta teased, coming beside the other girl and pulling on her apron. The tall blonde Danish girl laughed.

"You know you love my boobs," Lea teased back. Gilberta rolled her eyes.

"Yes of course. They're the biggest turn-on of life. Let's start making out now so Eli's nosebleed gets worse," Gilberta replied.

"What are you talking about?"

"The freak show's probably staring at us with his mouth open," Gilberta guessed. Lea turned around. Sure enough, there he was, staring at them. Eli blushed and looked away. Lea turned back to face Gilberta, whose smirk had grown.

"How did you…?"

"Years of experience," Gilberta replied. She checked the instructions the teacher had handed out at the beginning of the class. "So we're supposed to make cake or something? Wow, how simple," she remarked.

"But sadly not simple enough for poor Lizzie," Lea replied and the two girls started laughing. Elizabeth, who was working in front of them, turned around and scowled, further fuelling their laughter. Her partner, a shy girl named Monique, gave them a horrified look. Gilberta remembered how the year before, after a cooking incident that burned the eyebrows off her face, Amanda had begged for a new partner. Unfortunately, the teacher had refused. Gilberta and Lea gave her sympathetic smiles.

"So, how has your first day been?" Leah\ asked as she pulled out the ingredients they'd need from a nearby cupboard. Gilberta shrugged.

"I met a cute boy today," Gilberta remarked. Lea's left eyebrow rose.

"So, then what? Did you punch him in the face or 'invade his vital regions' in a dark corner of the classroom?" Lea teased. Gilberta frowned.

"Neither. We became friends and I invited him to sit with us at lunch and he did," Gilberta replied, intent on mixing the dry ingredients together. Curious as to why Lea hadn't replied, Gilberta glanced to her right and saw Lea staring at her in almost horror. "What?" she asked in confusion.

"Did you hear yourself? You, Gilberta Beil-whatsit, making friends with a cute guy instead of beating them up or raping them? Are you alright?" Lea asked in mock concern, putting her hand on Gilberta's forehead.

Gilberta swatted the hand away irritably, brushing off the flour Leah had left on her face. In the meantime, Eli was having a cardiac arrest over their contact. His partner was too used to Eli's behaviour to really care. He just concentrated on making sure the blood from Eli's nosebleed didn't hit the food.

"He's cute. I want to get to know him better," Gilberta replied, pouring some more flour into her bowl. "What about you? Meet any cute girls?" Gilberta asked curiously.

Lea grinned. "Yes! I can't believe I haven't seen her beautiful face before. I think I'm in love," Lea proclaimed happily.

Gilberta laughed. "Name?"

"Erika."

Gilberta frowned. "The name doesn't ring a bell. Whose homeroom is she in?"

"Uh… she's in grade 10."

Gilberta stared at her friend. "Wow… you like 'em young, dontcha?"

Lea made a face. "She's just 2 years younger," Lea protested.

Gilberta snorted. "Yeah. To anyone else, 2 years is alright. But you're a freaking _giantess_ – she'd look like she was 10 beside you," Gilberta teased.

Lea pouted. "I'm not as tall as Svea," she protested, referring to her Swedish cousin. Neither girl got along with each other. "You can hardly tell she's a chick – she sounds like a freaking dude the moment she opens her mouth to 'talk'!" Lea grumbled. "How the hell she managed to snag a cutie like Tiina is beyond me."

"Aww, is someone jealous?" Gilberta simpered. "Forgotten Erika already, have you?"

"Hey, I'm not lusting after Tiina – its Erika that I want!" Lea said. "I just don't get how she managed to get such a sweet nice girl when Svea's like a monster!"

"Girls, can you please quit talking and finish working on your cake?" their teacher said as he walked by, sounding annoyed. The two girls sighed and rolled their eyes, falling into silence. They worked in silence until the end of the period when the bell rang, signifying school was over.

"What are you gonna do when you get home?" Gilberta asked. Lea grinned.

"I'm gonna go annoy Svea for a bit and then maybe see if I can find Erika – apparently Tiina and Erika are second cousins or something so I can just ask her," Lea said as they walked out of the classroom. "You?"

Gilberta shrugged. "Gonna go home and annoy Ludwig. I hope Feliciano comes over – the two of them would be the cutest couple ever if they just acknowledged the fact that they like each other!" Gilberta complained.

"You have your work cut out for you," Lea teased. "Ludwig's such a tight-ass, he wouldn't figure his feelings out even if a 'recognizing your true feelings' self-help manual hit him in the face," she joked and the girls laughed.

As the girls parted ways, Gilberta remembered Matthew. Wondering if he had a cell phone number or msn, she decided to harass Elizabeth for it. And the moment she had them, she'd talk to Matthew until he realized what a truly awesome chick like she was and would want to go out with her in a second. It was foolproof!

Pity, of course, that fate had other plans…

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Lea is Denmark, Svea is Sweden, Erika is Norway, Tiina is Finland. Ari's the only boy from the Nordics and he spends his time wondering why he hangs out/is related to such strange girls. I imagine Lea to be like Sailor Jupiter, I don't know why. Svea isn't really that manly - she's actually quite feminine. Lea's just exaggerating. **

**Review?**


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